a 5-0 list from Zores. First instinct is it's a pile of nonsense but I do like the idea. I've worked on a similar Black Moon midrange with a combo finish concept. That said I think this can use improvement. Manamorphose in this shell is most assuredly wrong, and I feel like SSG is as well. Some other minor stuff like Sweltering>Anger and quicksilver amulets. I feel like if you throw in some LotVs, IoKs, Pushes and Thoughtseizes it'd be more a more robust deck. thoughts?

To expand, idea would be similar to Blue Moon Breach which plays a controlling role with Blood Moon and a combo finish. Instead of permission and burn-based removals we have discard+harder removal like push/terminate/draedbore and instead of having a back up burn+snapcaster/Clique plan we have double the combo. That's the idea.. anyone else try it before?

I came here to comment on your thought of a BR Ctrl deck with combo finish.
I've started playing around with the shell about two weeks ago, right before the mtgo modern ptq finals. I played 0 SSGs, instead I played 3 Sweltering Suns, 2 Fatal Pushes, Axes and two Liliotv. It's very important to understand that I'm coming from a ctrl shell with combo finish. With that list, I finally entered the mtgo ptq and went 6:3 if I remember correctly. I was fairly impressed of the overall performance and stopped playtesting with Dredge for a while. I grinded the Leagues and ultimately came to the conclusion that I should rather play Marc Tobiash's approach or UR Breach if I would want a ctrl shell with combo finish - they're just better at the job and the br version just wasn't capable of taking control over most of the matches, so I trimmed on those parts.
I wanted a combo deck with a few ctrl elements against surprises and to cover the rebuild period when the combo gets disrupted. The deck is really doing well since - 3 5:0's in 5 days and 5 leagues (2:3; 4:1; 3×5:0). The manamorph is a leftover, a filler, as I played with 4 of them at some point in testing. I just don't know a better card to replace it with - maybe It's another tvoice, or a LAxe. Mmorph helps setting up a T1 Griselbrand or a T2 Grisrlbrand + Emrakul, but as a one-off its a bit lackluster.
The 3 Spellbombs are only in there because I didnt want to buy 3 Chalices but they performed quite ok. I prefer Suns over Anger because of the cycle ability and since I really don't care too much about Finks' coming back.
Finally, I don't play the Boborygmos version - which has a real combo finish, because I feel like it's too inconsistent - it just doesn't fit my playstyle and I've played it in the past at an RPTQ where I had a terrible experience with it.
I also don't like Reunion in the deck - it's worse against counters than other choices and most of the time, I really like the cards in my hand and would only discard one of them.
To the other users - I hope it's clear that t2/t3griselbrand =/= autowin with the deck. It's a huge drawback of not playing the shoal combo and most of the time it's all about setting up for the final blow with emracool.
Sadly, the deck has been published now, which means I lose all the benefits of the unknown - ppl don't play around shoal or an instant win, so I expect a big hit on my win% coming. I'll keep the reply updated if ppl are interested and otherwise I hope the input was helpful for your deckbuilding.
Hope I could clear some things up.

To expand, idea would be similar to Blue Moon Breach which plays a controlling role with Blood Moon and a combo finish. Instead of permission and burn-based removals we have discard+harder removal like push/terminate/draedbore and instead of having a back up burn+snapcaster/Clique plan we have double the combo. That's the idea.. anyone else try it before?

Caleb tried it a few years ago with MD Blood Moons and Lillies. Works decently as far as I can remember.

I came here to comment on your thought of a BR Ctrl deck with combo finish.
I've started playing around with the shell about two weeks ago, right before the mtgo modern ptq finals. I played 0 SSGs, instead I played 3 Sweltering Suns, 2 Fatal Pushes, Axes and two Liliotv. It's very important to understand that I'm coming from a ctrl shell with combo finish. With that list, I finally entered the mtgo ptq and went 6:3 if I remember correctly. I was fairly impressed of the overall performance and stopped playtesting with Dredge for a while. I grinded the Leagues and ultimately came to the conclusion that I should rather play Marc Tobiash's approach what is his approach to BR combo? I know him mostly from his Esper Vengeance ideaor UR Breach if I would want a ctrl shell with combo finish - they're just better at the job and the br version just wasn't capable of taking control over most of the matches, so I trimmed on those parts. agree, if we want control+combo I kind of think blue is better for consistency, permission and a backup tempo plan. I am intrigued by the kiki plan that's popping up nowadays though
I wanted a combo deck with a few ctrl elements against surprises and to cover the rebuild period when the combo gets disrupted. The deck is really doing well since - 3 5:0's in 5 days and 5 leagues (2:3; 4:1; 3×5:0). The manamorph is a leftover, a filler, as I played with 4 of them at some point in testing. I just don't know a better card to replace it with - maybe It's another tvoice, or a LAxe. Mmorph helps setting up a T1 Griselbrand or a T2 Grisrlbrand + Emrakul, but as a one-off its a bit lackluster.great to hear on your success. As for your manaphose slot, have you considered Thoughtseize?
Makes your combo game better and is also a discard outlet for Vengeance
The 3 Spellbombs are only in there because I didnt want to buy 3 Chalices but they performed quite ok. I prefer Suns over Anger because of the cycle ability and since I really don't care too much about Finks' coming back. Fair enough. I think it's a metacall though - I'd consider playing any of pyroclasm, anger, KReturn, Bontu's and Damnation depending on the metagame. Right now I favor Anger because of the resurgence of Dredge, Humans and the expected response to Humans' rise in creature combos like vizier coco/elves
Finally, I don't play the Boborygmos version - which has a real combo finish, because I feel like it's too inconsistent - it just doesn't fit my playstyle and I've played it in the past at an RPTQ where I had a terrible experience with it. understandable. It's mostly what I've played for the past year and though I've had fair success with it, the variance is maddening.
I also don't like Reunion in the deck - it's worse against counters than other choices and most of the time, I really like the cards in my hand and would only discard one of them. agree. If you've followed the thread, a lot of people here are very iffy on the hugs. I think it's close but because I play the combo version hugs are marginally better than voices. But if you have a fairly midrange-y plan I'd rather play Tormenting Voices
To the other users - I hope it's clear that t2/t3griselbrand =/= autowin with the deck. It's a huge drawback of not playing the shoal combo and most of the time it's all about setting up for the final blow with emracool.agree. It's a nice draw 7 in my experience. draw a bunch, set up the best 7,
use the rest of your mana/SSGs to Laxe/discard etc.
Sadly, the deck has been published now, which means I lose all the benefits of the unknown - ppl don't play around shoal or an instant win, so I expect a big hit on my win% coming. I'll keep the reply updated if ppl are interested and otherwise I hope the input was helpful for your deckbuilding. it's such a rogue archetype I doubt this would hinder your performance that much.
Hope I could clear some things up.

Good to see you here and thanks a lot for the clarifications! Some thoughts on your post. Here's the list I was playing that I'm planning to work on:

The idea was there were a lot of games with Grishoalbrand where I got disrupted enough and was left helpless and beaten by a single threat, so I thought to turn it around and play a Jund-y gameplan with a combo finish. I put a lot of thought in the deck construction.. have you thought of some of these cards?

*Pentad Prisms over SSGs in the main board for turn 3 Breaches
*Slaughter Games (potential combo killer, which I think is a negative matchup without a discard suite).
*Goblin Rabblemaster (same thought re: combo)
*Olivia Voldaren/Grim Lavamancer (can take over creature matchups)

To expand, idea would be similar to Blue Moon Breach which plays a controlling role with Blood Moon and a combo finish. Instead of permission and burn-based removals we have discard+harder removal like push/terminate/draedbore and instead of having a back up burn+snapcaster/Clique plan we have double the combo. That's the idea.. anyone else try it before?

Caleb tried it a few years ago with MD Blood Moons and Lillies. Works decently as far as I can remember.

Greetings,
Kathal

Yup, that was actually my initial inspiration. I actually think the Pentad Prisms/SSGs are miscast in this shell if your philosophy is a midrange Black Moon deck with a combo finish, and we now have Fatal Push when he didn't to deal with hatebears (he ran dark blasts and a pyroclasm only). Thinking maybe there's something there in a format where Blood Moon is great

I'm very aware of your success with the deck - one can't just pick up the idea of playing reanimator and build the deck from scratch. So I studied all the top finishing versions of the deck and your name popped up quite often, however, since it's been clear to me that I didn't want to play the shoal combo, I stopped at your August BR Control version, which Holydiver took to another 5:0 finish and started from there. So your quite the inspiration already. Most of my changes are playstyle related, which is based on which way I don't want to lose games (for example, I hate getting hosed by a single card, or the feeling of a lack of options) I think my view on reanimator is largely influenced by my experiences with Ad Nauseam, so I still have a lot of practicing to do to value the cards correctly.

I'm very aware of your success with the deck - one can't just pick up the idea of playing reanimator and build the deck from scratch. So I studied all the top finishing versions of the deck and your name popped up quite often, however, since it's been clear to me that I didn't want to play the shoal combo, I stopped at your August BR Control version, which Holydiver took to another 5:0 finish and started from there. So your quite the inspiration already. Most of my changes are playstyle related, which is based on which way I don't want to lose games (for example, I hate getting hosed by a single card, or the feeling of a lack of options) I think my view on reanimator is largely influenced by my experiences with Ad Nauseam, so I still have a lot of practicing to do to value the cards correctly.

fair enough, they definitely are completely different stylistically. I'm going to be testing black moon breach for a bit more and see if there's anything here.. good luck if you are going to continue testing it

Of course, completely outdated, but as a base it would be interesting to go from it.

Greetings,
Kathal

I've been meaning to play the ooze version (and the fury version for the matter) as it's getting a bit stale playing grishoalbrand all the time. Do you have an updated list I can fool around with:)?

Looking at the list, I kind of get the gist of the deck but still don't quite understand. Oooze lets us dodge.. just cage right? Looks like the idea is to bin borb+griselbrand, play an ooze and combo (the combo seems to be chaining soul spikes which is the only life gain engine that I see). Other targeted GY hate like scooze, surgical, Leyline/RIP still seems to be good vs this version, unless you sequence a certain way (playing ooze first, then binning griselbrand/borb).

Of course, completely outdated, but as a base it would be interesting to go from it.

Greetings,
Kathal

I've been meaning to play the ooze version (and the fury version for the matter) as it's getting a bit stale playing grishoalbrand all the time. Do you have an updated list I can fool around with:)?

Looking at the list, I kind of get the gist of the deck but still don't quite understand. Oooze lets us dodge.. just cage right? Looks like the idea is to bin borb+griselbrand, play an ooze and combo (the combo seems to be chaining soul spikes which is the only life gain engine that I see). Other targeted GY hate like scooze, surgical, Leyline/RIP still seems to be good vs this version, unless you sequence a certain way (playing ooze first, then binning griselbrand/borb).

I've been meaning to play the ooze version (and the fury version for the matter) as it's getting a bit stale playing grishoalbrand all the time. Do you have an updated list I can fool around with:)?

Looking at the list, I kind of get the gist of the deck but still don't quite understand. Oooze lets us dodge.. just cage right? Looks like the idea is to bin borb+griselbrand, play an ooze and combo (the combo seems to be chaining soul spikes which is the only life gain engine that I see). Other targeted GY hate like scooze, surgical, Leyline/RIP still seems to be good vs this version, unless you sequence a certain way (playing ooze first, then binning griselbrand/borb).

Sadly no updated list, been enjoying Nacatls and Delvers in the same deck the last few times I played :/

Of course, completely outdated, but as a base it would be interesting to go from it.

Greetings,
Kathal

I've been meaning to play the ooze version (and the fury version for the matter) as it's getting a bit stale playing grishoalbrand all the time. Do you have an updated list I can fool around with:)?

Looking at the list, I kind of get the gist of the deck but still don't quite understand. Oooze lets us dodge.. just cage right? Looks like the idea is to bin borb+griselbrand, play an ooze and combo (the combo seems to be chaining soul spikes which is the only life gain engine that I see). Other targeted GY hate like scooze, surgical, Leyline/RIP still seems to be good vs this version, unless you sequence a certain way (playing ooze first, then binning griselbrand/borb).

Thanks! Looks interesting. Grisly Salvage looks savage in this shell. I'm worried that the fact that we literally fold to hard graveyard hate without the breach half looks unappealing, but no doubt it makes the graveyard combo half very powerful. I'm intent on trying all Griselbrand variants so I'm going to give it a try though

I've been meaning to play the ooze version (and the fury version for the matter) as it's getting a bit stale playing grishoalbrand all the time. Do you have an updated list I can fool around with:)?

Looking at the list, I kind of get the gist of the deck but still don't quite understand. Oooze lets us dodge.. just cage right? Looks like the idea is to bin borb+griselbrand, play an ooze and combo (the combo seems to be chaining soul spikes which is the only life gain engine that I see). Other targeted GY hate like scooze, surgical, Leyline/RIP still seems to be good vs this version, unless you sequence a certain way (playing ooze first, then binning griselbrand/borb).

Sadly no updated list, been enjoying Nacatls and Delvers in the same deck the last few times I played :/

I've been trying out your list and seems solid, as you mention the main downside to traditional Shoal, which I've played for a while, is that Griselbrand doesn't usual win the game, but you do have more interaction as a result. I've been using a thoughtseize instead of the mmorph and angers for suns - also, why duress instead of inqui / thoughtseize? I've had some issues with eidolon, for instance.

I have been wanting to try Chart a Course in Modern, but haven't really had the time or the good meta to do so.

Wrong thread for this but either way, I have not seen this list and would not touch it due to different reasons. I'm currently brewing on a RUG Vial Tempo list with 3 Chart a Course, though had no time yet to actually test it.

I was always in both ends of the spectrum, either hardcore fun police (Counter-Cat, Delver or Eternal Command/Ruse) or playing the fun stuff (mostly Griselbrand.deck but also Ritual Gifts, Dark Helix (aka Spellweaver Helix combo deck) and Spellweaver Volute.deck before they basically killed it due to a rules update).

So, I'm playing in a 16-person store invitational in a couple weeks. I'm considering playing Grishoalbrand because I think people might skimp on GY hate. No one has played much of a GY deck at our store lately. Based on people's play habits, it is likley the field will look like this:
Burn: 3
Blue tempo: 1-2
Affinity: 2-3
Titan: 2
Drazi: 1-2
Shadow: 1-2
Infect: 1
GW value: 1
Unknown: 2

Think Grishoalbrand is a good choice?
If so, how would you build the list?
If not, what deck would you play? (I have access to basically any deck)